-- Butcher Pete -- (Valerie)-- KEEP

[Cillian Amir]

"Why are we doing this Cillian? Do we have to really live like this to survive? Vampires all over the world manage to live without wanton killing and terrorising of the general public so why do we. No no I know you've done a lot to keep us alive and out of harms way of hunters and wolves but... but at the same time you have put us in danger before. The times you've decided to 'test' how long you can stay out in the sunlight before it starts to burn, fighting wtih wolves knowing full well that their blood could kill us if it got into our system. You're reckless Cillian and sometimes I'd afraid that's more dangerous than me been without you at all. And then there's the drug you've been dealing out at clubs and to the junkies of London. Making those poor girls become addicted to what is effectivly our blood to the point that they beg us to be turn them and I can only wonder what the blood of those junkies is doing to us".

Marcus leans forwards suddenly, holding his head in pain and a thin line of blood runs from his nose. "Stop it Cillian, please stop it". After a minute or so Marcus sits back up, but he looks different; there is a darkness in his eyes. "That's quite enough out of you 'brother'. I let you have a little time out of your cage and all you do is complain and bitch at me? Perhaps another three months in holding will teach you to be more respectful of those with power". Slowly he stands up and walks down the stairs of the building he had been sitting outside of. For once he is dressed in clothes that aren't torn and ragged, that would be Marcus's doing. Cillian looks down at the sneakers he has on, a clear look of distain on his face. "How do people wear these things all the time?". Undoing the laces he kicks them off, smiling at the feeling of the cool concrete underfoot. "So much better, much better for hunting".

It doesn't take long for Cillian to have a young pretty girl pinned down on the ground. Lured in by his sweet words and good looks it was hardly a challange, though he did give her a chance to run which is obviously took but it wasn't enough to get away from him. He kneels beside her, his hand on her throat. There are cuts all over face, arms and shoulder from where he has bitten and scratcher her to get her blood. Unlike most vampires Cillian isn't the kind that kills his victims outright, he likes to let them stay alive and know that there is no escape, that he is going to kill them no matter what and that they're going to be in pain the whole time. The girl looks up at him with desperate eyes, tear filled eyes which only makes Cillian grin. "Oh you poor little thing, but take comfort in the fact that you're going to die and that I'm not a wolf that turn you with a bite, now you wouldn't want to become one of those horrible things now would you". He forcefully shakes her head. "That's what i thought".

Still holding her by the neck Cillian lifts the girl up and slams her against a wall which knocks her out. "Now you're going to bore me and that means there's no reason to keep you around". Coming in close to the girl Cillian kisses her neck, then bites into it. His 'final bites' are never just simple. Cillian tears and twists to tear away the flesh. He crawls at her skin as he bites, anyone would think that the girl had been bitten by a wild animal or a werewolf by the way he acts. Cillian is savagery and the wild animalistic nature of vampires personified. Finished with the girl Cillian just walks away, leaving her bloody corpse to rott or be eaten by the ferals that live on the streets. His shirt covered in blood Cillian simply breaks into someones house and steals a new shirt, leaving his behind.

Probably still reeking of the girls blood and barefoot Cillian walks with no real direction. He is sure that someone has found the girls body by now or even seen him killing her but what does he care? By all accounts he doesn't exist anymore. It's late at night and the sidewalks are fairly empty, a few people sitting outside small cafes make up most. He ignores there looks and pointing fingers at his shoeless feet. He could kill them all without even trying... No he won't, at least not right now.

[Col. Valerie Castoro]

There’s a place in the dark where the animals go
You can take off your skin in the cannibal glow
Juliet loves the beat and the lust it commands
Drop the dagger and laugh at the blood on your hands, Romeo.

[/size]

Venezuela. Costa Rica. Ireland. A handful of others still in top-secret folders in Washington.

Valerie Castoro had seen rougher places than Broadgate, but that didn’t mean it was where she wanted to spend her vacations. It was where the wolves worked, and any vampire knew that where there were wolves, there was trouble. If she’d had her way, she’d still be back in her lovely office, in the middle of cyberspace.

Getting information about people who’d been blacklisted and sentenced to death by Izan was nothing new to her. She always got it, and she always handed it over. This time, however, she was to also act as liaison with an assassin of her choice. This posed two problems for her.

Firstly, despite her history in the Marines, Valerie was not seen as a sociable person to an outsider. Sure, she could be smooth—she had to be, sometimes—but she always had a sort of abrasive, dry humor that sometimes made people uncomfortable. She’d been force recon back in her day, which meant she could do a lot of things. Liaising was not one of them.

Second, although she worked for Izan, Val had never met a real assassin. She knew a few spies, like Angel Malcon, but her job wasn’t to actually interact with the one doing the deed, and even if it was, she didn’t have anyone to interact with.

So she asked around. She asked the people in the offices near her if they interacted with anyone from Sweep-and-Clean, and the answers were mostly the same as her own; that’s not their department. Then, suddenly, as she was searching the net that same day, she got a message from a friend down the hall, a human who worked nights for Izan hoping to rise in the ranks:

“If you’re looking for somebody who’ll get it done and ask zero questions, look for Cillian Amir.”

Quirking an eyebrow, she typed back, “Is he efficient?”

The answer took a moment.

“Very.” Then, a moment later: “I’ve never had the guts to contact him before, but you could totally take him in a fight, so you’re good.”

“Why would I want to fight my own hired gun?”

Another pause on the other end.

“With Amir it’s kind of a crapshoot.”

“Really?”

“He’s totally street-brawler, though. A vamp among vamps. You could probably kill him with a napkin. :P”

Val laughed softly to herself. It was the joke of the hacker department that in a world of wimpy nerds, hardened veteran Valkyrie Castoro was the unquestioned authority on everything…or else.

She typed back: “The name was Cillian Amir?”

“Yep. Cillian Marcus Amir. Pretty sure he’s around 50, so that puts his YOB around 2146.”

“Got it.”

“We were thinking about getting donuts, by the way. You want some?”

“No thanks.”

“Suit yourself.”

That was all she needed—the name, the year of birth. By the next night, she had an address and cell phone number. Using the cell phone, she was able to track his location. Meeting in person was so much simpler—and less traceable—than other means. So she downloaded the information onto her own phone and used it to trace him to Broadgate.

A few of the cafés were still open, but not many people inhabited them. One or two recognized her from the stage, she saw, but no one stopped her. Fair enough. No one ever suspected an actress to do the sorts of things she did; she had refuge in her audacity.

Then, her phone started buzzing. He was close. She smelled him long before she saw him, and she saw him a few moments before he saw her. He’d obviously just fed; he still smelled of blood. He wasn’t wearing shoes, and she couldn’t see his face, because he was turned away from her.

Fear was something she’d learned to control long ago; she walked up to the stranger (well, strange to him, being that she now knew almost everything there was to know about him).

“Mr. Amir?” she said, her American accent giving away her Boston heritage, as always. Since she mostly played British characters (it was the West End, after all, and not Broadway), many people were surprised to find that she was American. “My name is Valerie Castoro. May I have a word with you?”

[Cillian Amir]

To amuse himself while he walked Cillian had taken to walking along the edge of the sidewalk, along the curb. Balancing on the narrow edge proved no challange for him, but it wasn't the challange he was after it was how cloes to the curb the cars were. Some could easily have clipped him and sent him to the ground injured if they'd come in contact with him but Cil' always managed to turn his body just that ever so slightly to avoid the hood or wing mirror of a car. Like Marcus had told him, he's reckless, willing to risk his life for his own amusement and get that feeling that nothing can kill him. His pride will be the death of him one day as many people have told him... Just before he has killed them. Of course each time Cil' just avoids getting hid by a car there is an audible little yell inside his head that comes from Marcus who, although kept 'trapped' inside a mental cage, is able to see all that is happening. -you're fucking insane you know that!-. Cillian just smiles and laughs softly. "Yes I know I am, that's what makes me good at what I do, it's also what keeps people away and from been nosey".

His nose tingles as the scent of a vampire comes to him. It wouldn't have bothered him so much if it weren't for the fact that the scent is close and coming from someone he cannot see directly. Because of his life-style Cillian is almost always paranoid about people sneaking up on him and trying to kill him in revenge for killing a family member or loved one or just for shits and giggles to try to prove that it can be done. It's why he lives in a run down crack house near Hyde Park that has no lights to show that anyone is home during the night, he lets it stay run down never doing it up for the same reason. He stays in the farthest back room so he can hear people coming in and have enough time to get away if they have violent intentions and the only people he tells where he live are the junkies who buy his drug and he threatens them with injury and death if he ever finds out they've blabbed to someone.

"Mr. Amir?"

He turns his head slowly. "You are not one of those who usually seeks me out, they never address me in such a way". A word? What anyone possibly want to talk to him about? Was she police come to ask him about murders that people have seen him done. No, she wouldn't have come alone if that's the case. Besides why would a vampire care about another murdering humans. Slowly he turns around to face the woman. "I am the man you are looking for, what can I do for you?".He looks at her for a moment then steps back, feeling a little too close to her for his liking prefering to keep at least an arms length between him and the person he is talking to.

[Col. Valerie Castoro]

"You are not one of those who usually seeks me out, they never address me in such a way."

His speech pattern was deliberate, almost archaic in its fashion. Whatever his reputation, this Amir at least thought before he spoke.

He turned to face her. He was frightfully pale, with reddish eyes -- had he been an albino in a past life, before he was turned? Having been born a vampire, Valerie had always been curious about what stays when a human is turned, and what goes. But as for this one, there was something else about him. She couldn't place it.

A study was once done that showed that when sane people met someone, they could tell whether the person whom they were meeting was insane within the first ten minutes of interaction because of certain instinctive clues. Whether this was the case with Amir was yet to be discovered, but from the very get-go Valerie knew that something about this man was very, very wrong.

"I am the man you are looking for, what can I do for you?"

"The question is not what you can do for me, Mr. Amir," she said, lowering her voice so that the people in the cafe not far off wouldn't hear. "The question is what you can do for Izan."

She took this time to produce from her jacket pocket the folder containing the information on the hit. Jonathan Kinsey-Smith, a young vampire in London.

"This man has stolen a good deal from my employer," she said, "and my employer cannot have his good reputation tarnished. The target must be eliminated; do so, and there will be considerable payment." She paused, quirking her eyebrow. "Am I making myself clear enough?"

Val hoped secretly that her natural confidence and skilled smoothness would make it seem like she'd done this before. Otherwise, she wondered if she'd need her combat skills, as her coworker implied.

[Cillian Amir]

He has never liked been around vampires that much, he doesn't like the fact that they have no heartbeat, no heat to the touch and in general are just cold and dead. Cillian likes been a vampire but sometimes he wishes that he could still have the heartbeat and warmth of been a human. Plus without a heartbeat Cillian is unable to tell if a person is lying or scared which with humans and wolves he can tell their feelings by hearing the speed of their heartbeat. Because of this Cillian never starts off trusting or believing anything anyone says to him until they can prove to him that he can fully trust them.

"Izan? Never heard of them but then again there are lots of secret groups around London these days. Human groups seeking to kill off all humans, vampires who want to take over London or wolves who want to do the same. It comes as no surprise to me that there are secret groups I've never heard of". Cillian listens to Valerie explain about the theif. "You want me to go after this young man and get the money back? Out right kill him?". He smiles at the last part. The smile is happy but not the kind of happiness that most people show when smiling, Cillian's smile is cruel. "Payment is nice, though I do not mind doing it just for the pure fun and pleasure of beating the shit out of people".

"Just tell me where to find this kid and I'll do what needs to be done". He pauses for a moment. "If you're looking to get him killed do you want the body disposed of? Or do you want him found". Cillian tilts his head slightly, the voice of Marcus yelling at him again. -So now you're taking jobs to kill your own kind huh? How does that make you any different than the hunters-[/i. His hands ball into fists, resisting the urge to talk back to Marcus out loud in front of Valerie.

[Col. Valerie Castoro]

"Izan? Never heard of them but then again there are lots of secret groups around London these days. Human groups seeking to kill off all humans, vampires who want to take over London or wolves who want to do the same. It comes as no surprise to me that there are secret groups I've never heard of."

Never heard of Izan? Looking over him, Valerie was reasonably sure that he wasn't exactly in with high society, and an informant she'd asked said he was an off-beat drug dealer. How could a drug dealer, deeply submerged in the life of crime, be unaware of what amounted to the vampire Mafia?

She shook it off; maybe it was her own insecurity about not being known. After all, she was famous in the legitimate world as an actress, and the world of crime as The Valkyrie. She wasn't accustomed to having to explain who she was.

"You want me to go after this young man and get the money back? Out right kill him?"

He smiled at this last.

Once, in her first tour of Venezuela, Valerie (then a lieutenant) and her platoon captured a werewolf in an encounter. They knew that the wolves were planning an attack, but didn't know where or when. They interrogated the prisoner for days, eventually resorting to torture. Then, on the fifth day, the wolf looked up at her and smiled, an insane grin that stretched and contorted his face. He told them they were going to die. Then he activated an explosive charge he'd placed by the door, at the same time activating one surgically placed in his chest.

Val lost six men in the explosion that day. She herself had suffered shrapnel wounds, but came out alive.

The smile that this man gave her now -- the complete, sadistic apathy for life and death -- took her back to that very day, over a hundred years ago.

"My employer doesn't care about the money. He's been insulted, and needs retribution," she said, pressing through the feeling of wrongness that was building.

"Payment is nice, though I do not mind doing it just for the pure fun and pleasure of beating the shit out of people."

"To each his own," she said, coldly, "but make sure he's not breathing when you're done beating him. Otherwise, you may be next on the list."

"Just tell me where to find this kid and I'll do what needs to be done...If you're looking to get him killed do you want the body disposed of? Or do you want him found?"

"Everything you need to know is in that folder. The target lives in an apartment three blocks from Hyde Park," she said. She thought about his next question. "My orders are to leave no evidence. For all intents and purposes, the target must simply disappear."

[Cillian Amir]

The memory of his first kill is always fresh in his mind, the night he'd cut the throat of his vampires lady-friend and taking the blood directly from her slashed throat even ingesting some of the vampires flesh. He'd wanted to be turned so badly Cillian had gone as far to eat her flesh along with most of her blood. Since that night his split-personality had formed, he'd changed from a quiet and gentle to a full blown killer, a taste for murder and violence had developed probably brought on from the realisation that he now had power and strength he'd never had before. Cillian had become drunk on power.

"A man who cares only about his power and getting back at people through unsavory means, a man after my own black heart. I will make sure this guy is in no condition to be moving by the time i'm done with him, there will no absolutely no chance of him surviving not when his face has been smashed in, his blood let and his bones broken beyound even the ability of our regeneration". Her threat of him been next to be hunted down if the job is not done properly makes him laugh. "I could take that as a challange".

He takes the folder off of Valerie, flipping it open to take a look through it. "Hyde Park huh? I know that area pretty well, know where all the junkies hang out so he shouldn't be too hard to find I mean not the best kinds of people live in that area". "I'll make him disappear. What's the best way to remove a vampire from the face of the earth? I think a nice fire will do, maybe toss him out into the rising sun"

Cillian steps forwards towards Valerie. It's not often that he around such fine looking women as the one before him, he can't ignore the sweet smell that lingers around her, the smoothness and perfection of her skin. If she were a human Cillian would most likely act on his impulses to touch her, to become close to her but since this vampire is obviously older than him and works for some secret organisation she is most certainly able to fight better than him so for now he is keeping his hands to himself. "How will I be able to find you to tell you the job is done, or are you going to be watching me?".

(in my next post I'll have Cillian finding and beating the guy then going to Valerie)

[Col. Valerie Castoro]

"A man who cares only about his power and getting back at people through unsavory means, a man after my own black heart. I will make sure this guy is in no condition to be moving by the time i'm done with him, there will no absolutely no chance of him surviving not when his face has been smashed in, his blood let and his bones broken beyound even the ability of our regeneration".

"Just make sure that when you do all that, you're doing it in private," Val reminded. A bit of the uneasiness wore off; she was used to dealing with young men who boasted of what they'd do to the enemy. It was the trademark of a soldier who hadn't seen enough of real combat...or, rather more darkly, the trademark of one who had seen combat and simply couldn't get enough.

I could take that as a challange".

"Take it however you want to take it. But the orders stay the same." The problem with Val sometimes was that she was terrible at bantering with strangers. She could swap jokes with her family until the cows came home, but when it came to people she didn't know, suddenly her extensive sense of humor dried up.

"Hyde Park huh? I know that area pretty well, know where all the junkies hang out so he shouldn't be too hard to find I mean not the best kinds of people live in that area". "I'll make him disappear. What's the best way to remove a vampire from the face of the earth? I think a nice fire will do, maybe toss him out into the rising sun"

"Call me uncreative, but if you don't want to wait for the sun to rise, you could toss him into the river like all the others," she said.

He stepped toward her, and suddenly she realized exactly what he was doing. He wasn't bragging about how efficient he was at killing to scare her; he was bragging about how efficient he was at killing to impress her. She'd had several hundred men under her command who'd done the same thing (with looks like Val's, if they hadn't been so scared of her, she could've been the sweetheart of the regiment), but never did it occur to her that it was done outside the military.

Ever the strategist, she found herself thinking, I could use this to my advantage, even though he'd already accepted and there was no advantage to be had...yet.

"How will I be able to find you to tell you the job is done, or are you going to be watching me?"

"I'll be in touch," she said. "My phone number is in the folder. You can call or text. If all else fails, I'll find you. I trust you'll be efficient enough to do the job -- and discreet enough to do it quietly. Good evening."

She nodded calmly to him, then turned and walked back down the street. At least that was over.


[[If she shouldn't walk away yet, just let me know.]]

[Cillian Amir]

"Somewhere private. That does make the experience all the better given that I can do whatever i like without having to worry about anyone sneaking up on me. As you wish it will be done discreetly and without anyone knowing I'm doing it. You have my word that no one will know about this beyound you, myself and your employer".The word of an insane man, a man with a split personality. Insane but not stupid. He knows well enough that this woman has powerful connections that she could order his death if he welches on their agreement. Cillian wants to stay alive for as long as possible, his pride will not let him fail this, it will not let him stop until the target is dead and erased from existance. "Bet they love it when you give them orders, have them scurrying off to please you, get that little bit of praise from you. Like dogs bringing in the carcass of a hunt to appease its master".

"I'll think of a way. Water doesn't get rid of a body as fast as fire does. You said you wanted him removed with no evidence. Dumping him in the water could leave the possibility of someone finding the body. Perhaps that is the bane of a military mind, no imagination". Cillian gives her a mock-salute as Valerie walks away. He watches her for a moment then turns and rather lazily walks away, looking through the file once more as he walks. "Oh you're going to enjoy this dear brother, perhaps you'll learn something from the experience, feel what I feel, let yourself become part of the act".
```

With a bit of intimidation fo the local junkies Cillian is able to find where the vampire he is meant to kill lives. A run down apartment covered in graffiti, broken windows and an overgrown lawn. At least this place has a front door. He has no gun, no knife, no weaon of any kind on his person. Cillian has never needed one, his fists and fangs have always been enough to get him by in fights. He enters the apartment silently, his bare feet barely making any noise. He shows no sign of pain by either noise or facial expression as shards of broken glass cut into his the soles of his feet. He picks up the scent of the vampires easily and follows it to a small room where he sees the vampires standing with a junkie, letting her feed off of his blood to get that high that it appears to give humans. Smiling Cillian lowers himself a little then runs forwards, hitting the man in the the spine with his shoulder then spinning him around and slamming him flat to the ground.

Before the vampire can do anything to react, his actions sluggish from having just given out some blood, Cillian is straddling him and pounding his fists into the vampires face, grinning with each crack and snap and burst of blood that sprays out of the wounds. He gets up off the bloody faced man and lifts him up onto a table. Using his nails Cillian begins to carve up the mans chest and abdomen, cutting deep into the flesh. It doesn't take long for blood to be dripping off the edges of the table. He stops a few times to give the vampires enough time to heal from the wounds, but as soon as the cuts are healed he starts again.

His face and hands are coverd in blood. For a moment he pauses and looks at the vampire, tilting his head to one side. "Look at him Marcus, look how weak and pathetic he is. This is what vampires have become. This is how far we have fallen. We should be on top! We should be the kings and queens of this world, instead we cower and skulk around in the shadows". He leans in close to the vampires face. "You are a disgrace to your kind, you have let us down, you have let your species down". Cillian digs his nails into the mans chest and rips his hands downwards, tearing open the mans chest, even reaching into the mans chest and taking hold of his unbeating heart. "Goodbye". With that he squeezes down on the dead organ and it bursts in his grasp. The vampire spasms for a moment then lays still... dead. The job done Cillian takes out a box of mathces, strikes a few and throws them onto the corpse. There is the sound of movement, the cause of it he quickly pounces on and kills, leaving the humans body to burn with the vampires. As the fire spreads he makes a quick exit, the old building soon engulfed in flames.

Standing not far from Hyde Park Cil' takes out a phone and sends a text to the number Valerie had given him. A simple and direct message. -Gone-.

[Col. Valerie Castoro]

[[Err...Val never mentioned having been in the military, so he wouldn't know...Also, since your post didn't specify how long it had been, I'm just assuming that it's the next day. Let me know if I'm wrong. ^.^]]

Before long, Valerie was back in her apartment a few blocks from the West End. She set down her purse and immediately undressed and took a warm shower. Despite her insensitivity to temperature, the hot water relaxed her muscles. Besides, if there was one thing that being around Amir did to her, it was make her want to take a shower. She hoped she'd get more comfortable as time went on...but she kind of doubted it.

She was up well past ten in the morning in her windowless bedroom before she was able to get to sleep. She had no work for Izan the next night, and her next play didn't start rehearsal until a week and a half later, so there was no alarm set to wake her up; instead, she awoke at eleven that night to the sound of her phone ringing. Shaking her head (she didn't usually sleep this late, ever), she sat up.

It was a text message from a number she recognized as Cillian Amir's. The message was a simple one.

Gone.[/i]

It could've meant a thousand things: that Kinsey-Smith had moved, that he'd skipped town, that Amir didn't want the job, that he'd skipped town. But somehow Val knew that none of these were the case. She knew that it meant he'd completed the job. Kinsey-Smith was dead. She typed a simple reply:

Good. I'll be seeing you soon.

His tracking information was still in her phone, and from what it told her, he was near Hyde Park. She got up, got dressed and styled (a p;ain pair of black pants, a maroon red shirt, and a cropped black jacket, all impeccably fitted, of course; her job was to look good, after all), and did her hair and makeup. Afterward, she checked her phone again. Amir hadn't moved; either that was where he lived, or he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

She set out with the envelope of cash for the hit in her jacket pocket. The winter chill still hung tenaciously on the spring air, but she was insensitive to the cold. She caught a cab to the area, then walked the few more blocks to Hyde Park. It was easy to find Cillian Amir if you knew where to look, although Val didn't even have to do that -- he was standing outside of a still-smouldering building.

"Well, that's one way to get rid of evidence," she said, making sure she was close enough that he could hear even though she was behind him. "I trust you didn't leave any witnesses."

It was not a question, because she already knew the answer. Why would this man leave a witness when there was another kill to be had?

It was at this point when Valerie began to understand the workings of the mind of Cillian Amir.

[Cillian Amir]

(oops sorry bout that, thouht she had mentioned it)

Sitting on a park bench Cillian picks dirt and dried blood out from under his nails with a fingertip joint of the vampire he had killed the night before that he had sharpend into a point. He'd used a piece of broken glass to cut it off just before he'd torched the building. He'd also cleaned it totally fo flesh, muscle and tendon and tied a piece of string around it to turn it into a necklace. Done with cleaning his nails Cillian slips the string over his head, tucking the finger bone beneath his shirt. "Might be fun to start a little collection of these types of things. What do you think Marcus? Make a little nook in the basement somewhere. I think it'll be nice, something to remember our times by". His eyes dart to one side for a moment, then he turns his head to look at Valerie. A smile forms slowly, he stand and walks over to her.

"Well you said you didn't want any trace of the body to be found and with the fire havin burnt everything in that house to a crisp there is absolutely so chance of his remains, or the remains of anyone else, been found amongst all the ashes". Cillian takes out his mobile phone and holds it out to Valerie. On the screen is a photo of what he had done to the vampire; his face smashed in, then another image of the man with his chest torn open. "See. Job was done all good and well. Done somewhere out of sight and the only witness was a junkie who is also somewhere beneath all the broken wood and glass". He flips his phone shut and puts it away. "Your man has been taken care of and isn't coming back from the grave any time soon".

"Not that I really need it but I do believe there was the mention of a payment when we last spoke. I don't really care for money myself but I'm sure I can find ways to spend it, things do to with it". What would he do with the money? Perhaps give Marcus a little time out of his cage. Some might see that as an act of kindess but for Marcus every time he is let out he knows that he has to go back into the cage, back to been a prisoner of his own mind to watch Cillian cause mayhem as he murders without a simple once of remorse or regret. Cil' loves the pain that he causes to Marcus.

Cillian steps up to Valerie. "I hope that the job was done well enough and to your expectations. Tell me, are you the type of vampire who lets their instincts take control? Or do you retrain yourself. I do hope that you're one of the ones that let their true nature run free, not one of those who cowers and lets themselves be held down my humans and wolves". He has come closer to Valerie than he had before. He watches her, swayin slightly inthe same way a snake does to hypnotise prey before striking. "I look forwards to engaging in future deals with you".

[Col. Valerie Castoro]

"Well you said you didn't want any trace of the body to be found and with the fire havin burnt everything in that house to a crisp there is absolutely so chance of his remains, or the remains of anyone else, been found amongst all the ashes...See. Job was done all good and well. Done somewhere out of sight and the only witness was a junkie who is also somewhere beneath all the broken wood and glass". He flips his phone shut and puts it away. "Your man has been taken care of and isn't coming back from the grave any time soon."

Valerie glanced at the phone and nodded once before he flipped it shut again; if nothing else, at least this Cillian was thorough.

"Not that I really need it but I do believe there was the mention of a payment when we last spoke. I don't really care for money myself but I'm sure I can find ways to spend it, things do to with it."

"Of course," she said, taking the envelope of cash from her jacket pocket and handing it over. "Fifteen hundred for the boy; you'll find it all in order there." She listened to what he said about finding ways to spend it and said, without really thinking and letting some of her wry humor slip through, "I hear the theatre is a popular option these days."

"I hope that the job was done well enough and to your expectations. Tell me, are you the type of vampire who lets their instincts take control? Or do you retrain yourself. I do hope that you're one of the ones that let their true nature run free, not one of those who cowers and lets themselves be held down my humans and wolves."

There it was again. That malicious disregard for life or death. The hairs on the back of Val's neck stood on end, but her face would betray nothing.

"I was in the Marine Corps for sixty-three years," she said, her icy voice hinting at her pride of her service. "Walking the line between savagry and restraint is kind of our thing."

He was closer to her now. The officer in Val suddenly jumped up with an urge to yell at him, to chew him out like an insubordinate infantryman. Deep down, a part of her really missed that about the Marines; maybe it was Val's inner sadist trying to get out. In any case, she restrained herself from telling off the much younger vampire. She reminded herself that he was just a young pup eager to please a new master; who could blame him for ambition, even if it was especially bloodthirsty? After all, there was a time when Valerie was known as the most ambitious cadet at West Point.

"I look forwards to engaging in future deals with you."

"Izan shares your sentiments," she said, her words deliberate and formal, like any good officer. "You have proven yourself efficient and useful to my employer. You will be hearing from us again, although perhaps not from me personally."

[Cillian Amir]

"Fifteen hundred? Just for offing some kid vampire, man I should have started doing this stuff earlier sure would have helped in the early days when we had to scrounge around the streets looking for humans to feed off of". He looks up from the envelope to Valerie as she mentioned the theatre. "Ma... I went a few times when I was a kid. Can't say that I enjoyed them that much but I was a child in those days so it's a given that I wouldn't have enjoyed the theatre. These days though. An enclosed dark room with everyone focusing on the stage... Sounds like a place where some fun could be had". There was a moment when talking about the theatre that Cillian almost mentions that it was Marcus who had gone as a child.

"Marine Corps, impressive. It's not suprising that the military have been employing vampires or even wolves. I don't think I could do it, the fact that there is that line between savagry and restraint is enough to put me off. Sometimes I just can't help myself and lose control, I doubt that would go down well in the military, having someone who is prone to snapping and going off on their own".

"No! It has to be through you, I won't deal with anyone else it has to be through you. If not you then I won't do the job". His mood seems to become a little more cracked now, when Cillian is calm he can talk properly and be fairly well behaved, but once he starts to get aggitated or stressed he is prone to acting more irrational and lashing out.